North Texan Gets 47-year Term For Neighbor’s Death

FORT WORTH (AP) — A North Texas man has received a 47-year prison sentence for murder in the death of one of two neighbors killed after helping him to move.

A Thursday statement from the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office says jurors deliberated four days Wednesday before finding Douglas Kirk guilty of murder in the shooting death of Pedro Diaz. On Thursday, jurors delivered the sentence and fined Kirk $1,000.

The Tarrant County jury was unable to reach a verdict in the death of Alphonso Beza, the other neighbor found slain at the house. According to trial testimony, Beza and Diaz went to Kirk’s house on April 24, 2010, and offered to help him move. The men drank late into the night, and by morning Beza and Diaz were shot dead.